Blog

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Srila Prabhupada has set a vision for devotees to “hunt for the rhinoceros” and to “think big”. His Divine Grace personally believed in engaging the leaders of society in Krishna Consciousness in order to set an example to the common populace. In pursuance of this vision, by the blessings of Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi and Srila Prabhupada, we received the rare opportunity of visiting the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi at his residence in New Delhi and gifting him a copy of the Special Edition Bhagavad Gita, printed in Italy. The Prime Minister liked this Special Gita and assured that he will keep it with him all his life.

HH Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja apprised the Prime Minister about the global preaching efforts of ISKCON, particularly the propagation of the priceless message of the Bhagavad Gita in most of the significant languages of the world. The Prime Minister was pleased to hear that the Bhagavad Gita is available in 81 languages of the world.

The Prime Minister was also presented with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is in Russian, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi and English. Maharaja also offered to have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is in all languages, kept in the Prime Minister’s Library; something which Srila Prabhupada would have been pleased to hear.

He also told him that ISKCON has over 650 temples across the world and more than 60 Goshalas. The Prime Minister mentioned twice or thrice during the meeting that ISKCON is doing good work.

Maharaja presented him with a photo of his visit to Moscow in October, 2001.He was pleased to see this photo, recollecting his Russia visit and the trip to the ISKCON Temple in Moscow.

The ISKCON team also utilized the opportunity to invite the Prime Minister as the Chief Guest for the major function we are planning for the ISKCON 50 celebrations -centered on the Joy of Devotion- in November. The Prime Minister mentioned that he needed some time for confirmation and did not commit, but was favorable to the idea. We are hoping for Krishna’s mercy that this possibility materializes.

It was particularly heartening to see the joyful and respectful manner in which the Prime Minister received the ISKCON team and spent nearly 15 minutes with us.

As soon as the meeting was over, Doordarshan, the National Television Channel of India started flashing the video coverage of the meeting. By afternoon, Twitter with several million followers of the Prime Minister, his YouTube Channel and the Prime Minister’s website Narendramodi.in- all flashed the following personal message: ” Touched to receive a copy of the Gita from Shri. Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja.”

This was the first ever time that a meeting with the Prime Minister of India has been featured so prominently and positively across media, particularly the wide reaching social media.Please find attached, the official photographs of this meeting.Many thanks.

Your servant

Vrajendranandan Das Director-ISKCON National Communications, New Delhi

Source: http://m.dandavats.com/?p=19857